CaptivaTravler
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Posts posted by CaptivaTravler
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Thanks so much for you detailed reviews and insight. We are going on this trip in July. Your post about Costa Maya, and the price being $40 pp, but their website says $50, and your post was very recent. Did you negotiate a discount, or did they just go up in the last week? Does anyone know?
Hello, Thank You so much.
I just looked back at my Email Confirmation with the All Inclusive Beach Break at Nohoch Kay on Costa Maya....I booked this with them on 2/20/13, and it was for $40 pp. I just looked at the link again for this excursion that i provided in an above post and it does look like the price has gone up since then to $50 pp. Wow. This price change must have just happened.
For what its worth, I personally wouldnt hesitate to book with them again even at that higher price of $50... Its close to port, and the value is still there with the all inclusive feature.
Let me know if you have any questions.... So jealous of your July trip! Have a great time!
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Great review. Lovely family. Thanks for sharing your trip.
Thank You.... Wishing today we were still onboard.... Gotta get another one planned soon!
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Thank you for the review. You have a beautiful family and I am sure this was a trip of a lifetime.
A question for you about shore snorkeling in Roatan. What beach did you go to? Is this right when you get off the ship or did you travel somewhere else?
Thanks again!
Cathy
Thank you very much for your kind words. We did indeed have a great week.
In Roatan, Its the beach immediately when you exit the boat. Go through the shops and veer to your right. Its an extremely pleasant walk, but if you dont feel like walking you can take a ski lift right to the beach area.
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Have enjoyed your review very much. Will be sailing on the Dream 11/9 and our cabin is the same one that you had. Also, from you name, I am assuming you are from Lee County in FL and until last August I lived in Collier County.
You have a lovely family and it is wonderful that familes can still enjoy vacationing together. The baby looks like he enjoyed himself.
Thanks for taking the time to write a wonderful review.
aww that's cool with the same cabin, We absolutely Loved this location! And yes. your spot on, good ole' Lee County. Born and raised. A Native as they say. And we are in and out of Collier county all the time with work and play. We think this area is a little slice of God's Country... hahaha
Thank you so much for your kind words. I have been blessed beyond what I deserve for sure.... and as far as our grandson, he sure did have a great time! and so did we with him. I'm sure when he got back home this last week he was like, wait a second...where is my big dinner table looking out over the ocean, with all my family? Where is the pool all day and non-stop snacking all day, everyday?? hahaha. but then again, dont we all say that for the first week or 2 back ?? :-P
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We went to Maya Chan last time in Costa Maya as well and agree with everything you said about them. Mark and the crew are fantastic.
I also would like to shorten the time spent in a cab to and from a resort. Tell me a little more about Nohoch Kay if you can. They are already $19 per person cheaper than Maya Chan. Will they organize a dive trip? How do you get in touch with them? Directly or through a marketing company?
Yes, Maya Chan was well worth every penny, just happens to be a little to far from Port with the amount of time the Dream spends in Costa Maya.
Some of the differences noticed in comparing these 2 All Inclusives, Maya Chan seems to be more private just due to vegetation and the way the resort is set up. Nohoch Kay is more of an open beach area on both sides, with several street shopping vendors / tables with 100 yards or so of the resort area. As far as food goes, while Mark does a great job at Maya Chan with the barbque and such, thats really not what Im particularly looking for while in the Mexican Caribbean. Some of the traditional dishes that I mentioned like the fish and shrimp ceviche and some other seafood related dishes along with nachos and salsa give Nohoch Kay a slight edge in food IMO. As far as setting up a dive, you would need to ask them directly, we didnt even broach that subject.
I contacted them directly at http://costamayacruiseexcursions.com/AllInclusiveBeach.htm
They are handled through a marketing company , ISLAND MARKETING LTD (CAYMAN)-Costa Maya Cruise Excursions
Hope this helps! You will get your worth out of that $40 fee... our group sure did :-P
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I like the way you think.:D QW and I just booked the Dream in Oct for our 10 anniversary and we can't wait.:)
You will love the ship! And early Congrats! 10 years is saying something these days! Keep at it, it only gets better and it's worth it :-P
And I'm guessing that with QW you meant DW ? Haha
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** DAY 7- Friday 5/17 ** @ SEADAY and Saturday Debarkation Day :(
Funtimes for Friday 5/17 - Seaday
After sleeping in till around 9, my DW and I got up for a trip down to the breakfast buffet, both of us electing to go with just a little fruit and an omelet. I love the omelet station, There are times when the line seems quite long, but it normally moves along at a pretty good pace. If I remember correctly the chefs have several pans going at the same time, so even with a line, you wont be waiting long. One odd thing on this trip, fairly early on in the cruise week, i think it was Tuesday or Wednesday, when I asked for an Egg White only omelet, I was told they were out of Egg Whites. I found this curious being so early on in the cruise. I never asked again during the week, so I don't know if they were out just for that particular day and would re-supply or they actually were out for the rest of the week.
We always have tended to take it extremely easy on the final day of our cruise week. (Not that we are working all that hard on the other six days haha) ..... After our leisurely breakfast my DW and I walked up to the 12th deck and found most of our group already laying out getting some sun, watching some morning news program on the big tv. for the most part we just hung out by the pool and slides for the better part of the morning- afternoon. for those of you that have been reading along, especially those with small kids less than a year old, a great place that we found to hang out up on the pool decks is right between the exit points of the 2 slides. Its a great place to just lay down and let your little one crawl around in what at the very most is a 1/2 inch to 1 inch of water. At most times during the day this area is shaded, so its great for little ones to just sit and not worry about the sunburn. Very near this is the small kids play area that has a climbing platform and a very small kids slide. We spent quite a bit of time in this little area during the week.
The one show that we had marked off to go see today was the always popular Love and Marriage Show hosted by Jaime the CD. Always good fun and laughs, and this time was no different. We always like to get there a little before showtime cause half the fun is seeing the participants get selected from the audience. Showtime is 2:30pm and it seems like they always do this show on the last Seaday. If you can, try to make this show. While the questions asked seemed to be always similar or the same, the answers are always different and quite entertaining! The one thing I was not aware of, is that they actually show this presentation live on most of the tv's on the ship, including the large tv up on the Lido deck. I prefer being there and seeing it live, but pretty cool if you just dont want to leave your lounge chair you can still catch it.
Ahhhhh....once back to the cabin to prepare getting ready for dinner, the fact we are getting off the boat in the morning hits you right square in the face. The room steward has left the Customs immigration info and the Debarkation Numbered Tags :(((((
Its inevitable now.... packing up your stuff and preparing to leave is in our near future.
Yeah, we still have another night in the MDR and another night for some Casino and Dancing, but once the suitcases come out from under the bed its hard not thinking about the trip winding down and coming to a close.
If anything describes that feeling, someone in our group wrote this on our Dry Erase Board -
We indeed did have another fantastic dinner in the MDR. I have always enjoyed Frog Legs and look forward to the night when they are served as an appetizer. While a little bland on this trip, still very very good. Here are a few food pics served through-out this week on the dream
Frog Legs-
No Caption Needed
WCMC -
As My review of our week on the Carnival Dream winds down to a close.... remember Good Times and Great Memories are what you make of them. If you are with people you care about and Love, don't let something not going the way you had thought it would distract you....Resist the urge to look for whats wrong....Look for those things that bring you joy!
A picture of my 3 little girls and myself-
My Beautiful Wife and Grandson
** Saturday 5/18 - Debarkation
As always you are given a choice for either carrying your luggage off with you first thing in the morning, or use the Debarkation Tags and place your packed luggage outside your cabin door by 11:00 pm on Friday night. We typically always Tag our bags and let Carnival carry them off the ship for us. They ask that you be out of your cabin by 8:30 am so they can get started for with cleaning and change over for the next cruise passengers coming in that afternoon. We had Debarkation #9 so after a quick cup of coffee and bagel, they were calling our number by 9:15 or so.
Again, Carnival has this unloading process down to a science, and we were grabbing our luggage headed to Immigration line by 9:30. Outside, back on our bus and loaded in our car by 10.
This is no exaggeration, by 10:15 EVERYONE....EVERYONE in our car (which was 7 in our group) was sound asleep but yours truly.
Wouldn't have it any other way. Great Week. Great Trip. Memories that will remain for the balance of our lives.....
If you have any questions about the Dream or this Itinerary, please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you for reading :-)
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** DAY 6- Thursday 5/16 ** @ Costa Maya
Funtimes for Thursday 5/16 - Costa Maya
Had been looking forward to stopping back at Costa Maya since our last stop here back in September of 2011. In 2011 we had a wonderful time spending the day at Maya Chan, an all inclusive beach resort. The owner Mark, really has this resort finely tuned and I would highly recommend them if you are looking for something to do while in Costa Maya.
The only downside with this Port is the amount of time the Dream is stopped here. The Dream, as was the same time in 2011, is here from 7 am to 1:30 pm. Thats right, 1:30 pm! That means with anything you do while in this port, you kinda need to be heading back to the pier no later than 12:30 to 1. It's for this earlier departure time I decided to look for something to do a little closer to the Ship/Port area. As mentioned, we had a wonderful time at Maya Chan, but it is at best a 30-40 minute taxi ride from the pier. Too much precious time that you just don't have to spare in this Port. So after doing a little research online and with the help of these boards here on Cruise Critic, we came up with something that matched up better with the times in Port here.
We settled on going to Nohoch Kay, an all inclusive resort located quite a bit closer to the ship, right on the beach. I will get this out of the way early, with more detailed explanation later.......Extremely pleased with our decision of Nohoch Kay!
With our group realizing we wanted to take advantage of our short time in Costa Maya, on Wednesday night, we discussed the time we wanted to get off the ship, it was written on our Dry Erase board so all could see and be reminded of, so it had now become Law :-)
Everyone would meet in the hallway at 8:00 am for a quick exit off the boat and to the taxi stands. We would skip breakfast, knowing that the All Inclusive at Nohoch Kay would be serving us food immediately upon our arrival. (boy were we correct in that assumption)
After walking through the assorted port shops and to the taxi stand, we informed them we were 11 1/2 in number and needed a taxi/bus to Nohoch Kay. $4 per person round trip.
Within 5 mins we were all loaded on a bus headed to our excursion. Its probably less than 10- 15 mins to Nohoch Kay. After stepping off the bus, I was immediately greeted by a gentleman named Jaime (pronounced hymie).
He welcomed all of us to Nohoch Kay. When i say all.... I mean all. Individually. He went down the line shaking hands and introducing himself and asking the name of each person in our group. He walked us over to our cabana, lounge chairs and seating area. We had more than adequate tables and chairs, with areas for shade for our group of 11. He then immediately called over several of his wait staff to meet us as well, give us menu's, and take any drink or food order that we decided on. From that moment on until we left, we always had at least one of them checking on us to order and re-order what ever we wanted to eat and drink.
I had told Jaime that we had been down to Maya Chan on our last visit to Costa Maya, and we were extremely pleased, but the distance in relation to our time in port caused us to look elsewhere. He also complemented Maya Chan and said what a good job they do, which I thought was admirable. After showing us around and some small chit chat, I got the money out to pay our balance for the excursion. (After having made a very small online deposit, almost all of it is paid on the day of the excursion.) Jaime, immediately says, 'put your money away, enjoy yourself.... cause if for some reason your are not completely satisfied, you pay me nothing'. :-)
Quite a few of us started out with a few BloodyMary's and progressed from there :-)
The Food was very very delicious. Nachos. Steak, Chicken, Beef. Amazing Guacamole and Chips and Salsa. Easily my favorite dish of the day, and this could be verified by the amount of servings I ate, was the fish and shrimp ceviche! It was so good! Such a simple dish, but no matter how hard I try I can never seem to duplicate at home.
Very nice beach area, very little of the turtle grass that tends to be prevalent on the beaches in Costa Maya. Severla of us did some snorkeling, but not much to be seen right near the beach. They do have kayaks that can be used to paddle out to a reef just off shore, but we elected to just take it easy and just chill on the beach with our drinks and food.
Here are a few pics from Nohoch Kay -
Jaime mentioned that he would order us a taxi when we decided to leave and to just let him know when we were ready to return back to the Port area. We had decided as a group that we would head back around 12:30 just to give us enough for some super quick browsing in the shops and get back on the ship by 1:30
It seemed like time flew to that 12:30 leave time :-( .... could have easily stayed another 3 hours or so at Nohoch Kay. Highly recommend and at $40 pp its a very good value for the money. Need to maybe send a note to Carnival or something to see if they couldn't stay another few hours while in this Port in the future.
After a quick walk onto the Pier, it seems like you meet up with one of the biggest lines all week getting back onto the boat. Obviously this has a great deal to do with it being the both the last stop before returning home, and the brief time in port, so everyone squeezes in every last second available before heading back onboard. It was the only time all week I was actually hot and sweating. Standing in a line, in the hot sun, will do that to ya, whether you worn born raised in Florida or not. :-)
After we got back on the ship, we all headed straight up to 12th floor and grabbed some lounge chairs near the railing of the pool area. The DJ was doing his thing, and the whole area was very lively, which is typical for this time of the day early to late afternoon.
Our group had decided we wanted to play in the Volleyball tourney that would take place @ 4 up in the basketball netted area. After walking over and waiting for several minutes, we found out that they were doing it a little differently this time than they had in the past. They wouldn't being separating into different teams, but just having 2 teams, with everyone else just rotating in and out so that everyone would eventually play. Hmmmm....not sure about who decided this would work out better, but one would think that if everyone was on a team, everyone would certainly have a better chance to play than just rotating in and out every few minutes. We have played in several of these Volleyball tournaments on past cruises and they were always great fun. Not sure if this was just a one time decision or that's how they are running these now. We decided to sit this one out and go play some mini golf, water slides and hit the pool instead.
As time started quickly to approach 5 pm, everyone in our group started to slowly disappear into their various cabins, what with it being our second and last Elegant night a nap might not be possible at this point. :-P
Second Elegant Night always tends to start the brief thoughts about tomarr being the last sea day, and then that dreaded day...getting off the ship Saturday. Wont let those thoughts settle in for long though cause if you do, you miss out on all the fun for the next 36 hours or so! Party is still on!
All 3 of my daughters are extremely fond of Escargot and always look forward to the night it is served. I also love it and i think between the 4 of us we had 9 orders total. HaHaHa. Im glad we dont eat like this at home, I would weigh 500lbs.
Another fantastic evening with family and the ones we love. Lots of laughter, about a million cherrios for our little Grandson as he was introduced to them on this cruise and simply is crazy about them. For him probably the coolest part of them is being able to pick them up on his own and eat them without anyones help hahaha. Elegant Dinner for an 8 month old? Give him a sippy cup and a small box of cherrios and he is Loving it! :-)
Some Second Elegant night photos-
Escargot-
http://s193.photobucket.com/user/whosyourdaddy_mmc/media/DSC04855_zpsd4fd9a83.jpg.html
Group at Table 622
Our Family Elegant Night Dream Staircase -
Little Man at table Elegant Night -
One of my Personal Favorite Desserts on the Ship -
After dinner we had decided to go see some of the comedy shows. We attempted to see the show @ 9:45 but it was completely full. We ended up going back for the Midnight Comedy show which was for a guy who went by the name of Cowboy Comedian.
After the show, spent another hour or so in the club dancing.
Next up----- Friday Seaday ----Last Day :(
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Would you have ( and be willing to post) pics of 10254 ? My girls will be staying in that cabin in January and were bummed that they couldnt find any pics of that cabin online. They are curious what it looks like with the uppers set up. :)
I'm sorry, I didn't notice you where asking about our interior cabin 10254, not our balcony, which is the description I gave above :(
My DD, SIL and grandson stayed in this interior cabin and to be honest I think I peaked in the door maybe once or twice during the whole week. With no pictures that I am aware of.
Sorry :( I do know that they had it made up with a king in center as you walked in, with both uppers lowered on both sides of the room. This gave them space below one the uppers for the pack and play/ crib they had set up.
Wish I could give you more info ..... But I hope this helps
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We also sailed with you, had a great time. What about the excitement on Friday with the jet flying a bit close? That was something i guess does not happen everyday. Enjoying the review, can't wait to read more.
It was indeed a great week. Great weather, great ship.... And yes! That flyover was crazy! As I understand it that is not uncommon when sailing near the Keys... Really spectacular stuff!
I leave Saturday!! 2nd time for this ship and same ports!!! Thanks. Excited now.Hahaha, you should already be excited!! Your going on what will be an amazing vacation in less than a week!! But I know what you mean, reading about just gets the excitement level flowing at a different level...your in for a good time, but if you've been once already you know this!! :-)
Would you have ( and be willing to post) pics of 10254 ? My girls will be staying in that cabin in January and were bummed that they couldnt find any pics of that cabin online. They are curious what it looks like with the uppers set up. :)I looked back through all of my pics from this trip and I'm sorry to say I really only have 1 or 2 pics taken inside our cabin, and unless you want pics of scattered shoes and carnival towels thrown around they wouldn't be of much help for you to see the layout of the room.
I do have this one, but again it doesn't show much of the floorplan.
http://s193.photobucket.com/user/whosyourdaddy_mmc/media/image_zps50d70a07.jpg.html
We had three booked into our room and it was not set up with an upper. We had it set up as a King and then the sofa was made into a bed for our youngest daughter.
I can tell you that when you walk in the door, all the closet space is to your immediate right (which you can see in the pic above) and the bathroom door is immediately on your left. Then further past that on your left is the extra bed/couch , opposite wall of that is vanity, frig counter area.....and then a little further into the room on your left is the King size bed.
The door to the balcony is on right side of cabin, at the end of King size bed.
Tell them I lost a $100 casino chip in that cabin so if they find it let me know. Or just put it straight up on #24 on the roulette wheel and see what happens next :-P
They are going to be very happy with not only this cabin, but the location as well.
Let me know if they need any further info....
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** DAY 5- Wednesday 5/15 ** @ Mahogany Bay - Roatan, Hondurus
Funtimes for Wednesday 5/15 - Roatan
This would turn out to be the earliest wake up time for my DW and I of this Cruise week.
As I mentioned in my last post, I had stopped off late last night at the Spa to see about the possibility of surprising my DW with a Spa treatment. As most know, on Port days the spa normally runs specials and packages that are only available during days in port. For obvious reasons, with most people getting off the ship for at least some portion of the day, the Spa wants to make sure it retains some business and these specials allow them to stay busy even while in Port.
The package that most interested me was being called the Spa'Topia Massage...it was a combination of several different spa treatments all rolled into one session.
Here is a copy of the Port Day Spa Savings Packages available -
I knew my wife would love the surprise, so I asked about the availability and open timeslots. The only opening was for an 8 am treatment that would last for about an 1 hour and 1/2. Perfect. We deff wanted to get off the ship and spend most of our day on the Beach in Mahogany Bay (for reasons I will explain in a moment) so this early time would work fantastically. The only thing more perfect was when Spa technician told me they could do this Spa Treatment as a couples massage in a Couples massage room, to include both my DW and myself. She didn't have to mention it twice...Book it! With that done, I told my DW back down in the Casino on Tuesday night that we would need to be up early for a surprise, she was more than eager to have an earlier wake up time than normal....
We were both already up and had a cup of coffee out on our balcony when the 7:30 am wake-up call from the Spa came. The spa treatment we received was wonderful. We were both lead to a very nice room with 2 massage tables, a whirlpool tub with rose pedals sprinkled all around, with a spectacular view looking out over the front of the ship into the blue waters near Honduras. I'm not to embarrassed to say I dozed off a time or two during the massage, but it was it splendid. :-) The highlight for me being the Hot Stones and Scalp Massage.
Both my DW and I do get several massages throughout the year and even though it is a little more pricey on a cruise ship, we have always been well pleased with the Spa Services provided. We had upgraded to the full body massage for this Spa'Topia Package with the total for both being $268 plus tip.
We couldn't have asked for a better way to kick off our midpoint way of our cruise week.
After taking our time leaving the spa, we met up with most everyone in our group to have some breakfast and lots of water up in our normal meeting spot, the second floor of the Pasta Bar. As mentioned previously, we all had decided that we wanted to spend most of our day hanging out on the beach at Mahogany Bay. The main reason for several of us was due to the fantastic snorkeling right off the beach. This is easily one of the best beach snorkeling spots I have ever been to. I can think of only one spot I have been to right off the beach that would have surpassed this one and that is Hanauma Bay in Hawaii.
For those interested in some great snorkeling, go to the end of the beach, go out to the end of the pier, once your geared up, go straight out and to your left as you look out into the water. Very cool coral formations, huge fans and tons of fish. One of my favorite areas if you go out a little further is what we call the 'ledge' the water drops off almost immediately to a verrrry deep depth. Kinda spooky, but very cool.
Several in our group spent probably at least an hour and half in the water just floating around here enjoying this amazing area of Roatan.
Here are some pictures of Mahogany Bay from our balcony -
You can see the pier I mentioned to walk out on to go snorkeling in this pic below
Beach area
Looking back to the Dream from Mahogany Bay
Sadly, when we came back up to the beach after snorkeling to grab some water and a bite to eat, it started raining pretty hard. That didn't matter much to those of us who were already wet from snorkeling, but for those looking for some sun, they were not quite so happy. Just my DW and my youngest daughter and her BF stayed on the beach, everyone else headed back to the ship.
The rain stopped within 15 mins or so and we enjoyed another few hours just chilling on a much less crowded beach.
Roatan has always been one of my favorite Ports of Call, and I dont think we have ever left the beach area of Mahogany Bay.
Here are some more pics of Roatan
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** DAY 4- Tuesday 5/14 ** @ Belize
FunTimes for Tuesday 5/14 Belize
As mentioned, Today our Stop would be Belize, which is a Tender Port.
Arrival is 8:00 am with the last Tender leaving the Belize Pier at 5:15.
In previous stops here in Belize we have done some inland excursions like Cave tubing with Vitalino Reyes... @ cavetubing.bz . Such an excellent tour, and I would highly recommend. The biggest issue with most of these tours in Belize is the distance you have to travel to get to and from the excursion. If i remember correct it was well over an 1 1/2 - 2 hours to the Cave Tubing. That's 4 hours in a van on some not so smooth roads. But as I said, if you havent been yet, you must do it at least once while visiting Belize.
This trip we decided to just Tender into port do some shopping/browsing and get back on the boat.
I mentioned earlier that my DW just is not a big fan of Tendering. It has something to do with the combination of the smell of Diesel fuel / and much more expected movement on the smaller boat. She has Tendered in many times, just not a huge fan of it. So she had already decided the night before she would just stay on the ship, sleep in, have a nice leisurely breakfast, then head up to the LidoDeck to get some sun and wait for the rest of us to get back on the ship in the early afternoon.
The majority of our group decided the night before to sleep in as well and attempt to leave the boat and grab a Tender in around 10 or so after breakfast.
At that point in the morning they were not handing out Tender Number's anymore, it was just show up on deck 0 and walk onto the next tender.
It seemed as if this time it was a little longer ride in than I remember in the past, with what seemed to be a pretty solid 35- 40 min boat ride in. I'm not certain if the Dream anchors in the same general location every time here or not. I'm sure it has something to do with tides/water level etc...
But after our arrival onto the pier, its just a very short walk to the shops. Nothing out of the ordinary here, the usual sunglass stands, tshirts, purse tables found in most ports. Im not sure what happens to all the sunglasses we buy, but it seems like someone in our group buys 1 or 2 pair at each one of these stops :-P
One very particularly cool place at this Port is the Chocolate Factory or Plant that can be found down to the left, almost to the end of the shops as you get off the tender.
Its called Moho Chocolate. Very interesting place, locally grown chocolate beans. They do offer a tour of the 'factory' which we did not take. I started talking with a very nice young man who was roasting some of the coco beans, and he began to go into the history and process of how they beans go from growing/harvesting to marketing stages. I found it to be very interesting. It was the one time in Belize I had wished my DW had came into port with us because of her love of anything Naturally made, and of course....anything Chocolate :)
I bought a chocolate milkshake made with there coco....Delicious! and quite reasonably priced at $4. Also purchased a bag of there Coco beans that had been freshly roasted. Very intense Chocolate flavor without all the sugar added.
After an hour or so browsing and shopping everyone was ready to hop back on the Tender for our return trip back to the ship.
Once back on the ship, we all headed up to the Lido for some grazing at the buffet, several of us opting for the Burrito Bar, which is one of my personal favorite offerings on the Dream. Shrimp, Steak, Chicken, or all 3! We all hung out on the second floor of the Pasta Bar until around 2:30 or so and then most of us changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the pool. Again, one of the nice perks of having your cabin on the Lido deck is, its such an easy and quick process to hit the pool.
At the pool the DJ was pumping out quite a few of the top 40 hits of the day, with an oldie or southern rock song sprinkle in once in awhile. I think this is the time where most would say they miss the Live Bands, Steel Drum bands etc.... I would agree. Again, another one of those small changes that means something to some, while nothing at all to others.
I very seldom listen to Caribbean music or Steel Drum music at home, but it was always a welcome change on a cruise ship and some how validated that you were indeed on vacation....some place far far away from home.
I will say when mentioned to the young people in our group, young twenties.... they also said the live music was a nice change of pace from the 'club music' or 'dance music' that is being played around the Lido most afternoons.
Around 4:00 or so my DW and I decided to go in a little early and try to take a quick nap before getting ready for dinner. Once back in the room, I showed her the bag of chocolate beans I had bought for her in Belize and then somehow the discussion led to me telling her about the Chocolate Factory and then lead into one of the 2 of us saying all this discussion about making chocolate was making us hungry for some Chocolate Chip Cookies!!
What else could we do then but order some from room service?? !! hahaha
Picked up the phone and ordered a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a cup of hot water. My wife always tends to bring her own favorite teas from home and then grabs a cup of hot water as its readily available all over the Lido deck.
I found this copy of the room service menu in some of the papers I brought home.....
MDR with another round of Chocolate Melting Cake with most everyone in our group. Every now an then someone will venture off for something new or untried, but its hard to beat for an after dinner dessert than the Melting Cake.
After dinner most of our group had decided to catch tonight's show in the Showroom in the Encore Lounge. Tonight's performance was to be 'Dancing in the Street's ' one of our personal favorites. Lots of upbeat tempo, and great energy from the dancers. We took our 8 month old grandson again this evening and he loved it! we sat about 4 to 5 rows back to the stage left, so he must have felt like they were dancing just for him hahaha :))
After the show, we wandered around the casino a bit. Several in our group had taken a liking to a skill game called "Casino Vault" . Its a game where you are trying, by lowering and moving a key, to knock off stacks of cash. Some stacks being $1,000 each. If you havent tried it....DON'T! Its addicting!! Im not sure how much those in our group pumped into this machine, but it was alot over the course of the week :)
But what great fun and laughter we all had standing around this machine, confident that if we just put 1 more dollar into it we could win that fat stack of cash...hahaha
Around 10 oclock, just before the Spa closed, I headed up to find out if they had any Port Day Spa specials available to surprise my DW with tomarr. Boy did they! To good of an offer to pass up. So I booked 2 spots.
One for her. One for me. hahaha. I already said it was to good of a deal to pass up....
I'll have to tell you about it in my next post for Wednesday - Mahogany Bay
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We are traveling with extended family on the Dream in October. We also have 3 balcony cabins and 1 interior on the Lido deck. This will be my first time staying on the Lido, and it was my suggestion that put us all there so I am hoping it was a good one! I would love to hear some of your thoughts on that deck...noise level, any extra movement being that high and that far forward, it seems convenient to food but what about the other "active" decks, etc...
Also thanks for posting the fun times, this is all very helpful to me, the family vacation planner :eek:
we were in 10252 - 10254 on that end of 10 and couldn't have been any more pleased. As far as noise, we never heard any of the music etc.. coming off the Lido deck. As far as movement, understanding it has a ton to do with the seas that your are delt with for the week, we felt nothing being up as high and as forward as we were. Actually the only complaints, for lake of a better term, was when we were in the dining room on deck 4 which is located at the back of the ship. I think more of that was from the prop rotation vibration. Didnt last long and it seemed only to only occur while leaving ports.
When we talked with our PVP we discussed at length what was important to us. Being close to sundeck lounge chairs, which for us was 2 flights of stairs straight up....access to spa/gym and of course the Lido and food areas. From our room to the pizza bar it was less than 100 yrds on the same deck. Hard to knock that. :-P
We have been in several diff cabin locations and really would have a hard time exceeding this past trip.
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** DAY 3- Monday 5/13 ** @ Cozumel
Cozumel- Arrival time 10:00 am. Departs- 5:30pm
Like most of you who have been cruising for any amount of time, we have been to Cozumel at least 4 times. In the past we have always done some sort of Buggy tour or Snorkle/Dive program. We decided this year to just chill, head to a beach and relax. Part of that may have had to do with our little Jr. traveling companion, partly because of the familiarity with this port. It turned out to be a fantastic decision!
Went back and forth in our planing between several of the beach options available. All inclusive, Pay as you go etc.... Ended up settling on Paradise Beach. Had read several positive reviews on this beach area and decided to take a chance. Awesome Awesome Place. Extremely well kept. The vegetation and grounds are highly maintained. I had heard good things about the pool area, and all were spot on. The pool is like brand new. The one thing i was worried about was how crowded it could possibly be, because i wasnt sure they limited the amount of guests like some of the all inclusive's can.
We left the boat around 10:30, and walked out to the taxi stand located at the end of the shops. We had all talked and agreed we would resist browsing and shopping until our return later in the day...so we were on a taxi headed to Paradise beach by 10:45 or so. The taxi ride one way for 6 people was $28. So a little over $10 per person round trip plus tip. We split up into 2 groups of 6 and got headed.
About a 15-20 ride to Paradise beach. Once there the taxi driver asked how long we thought we might be at the beach. We honestly were not sure, but he insisted he would just wait in the parking lot until we were ready to leave and refused to accept any money until our return trip. Pretty Nice.
Upon arrival we had a guy show us around the whole facility and what was offered and said whatever we needed he would make it happen. He lived up to this through-out the day. We paid him $2 for the day per person. We spent an hour or so sitting in the lounge chairs that are located in the pool. Yes...in the pool around the edges in water thats prob a foot or so deep. Very relaxing, very cool.
As far as crowds, nothing to worry about there was probably less than 50 people for most of the day.
Here is a few pics of pool area and beach.
1) a few of us at pool area of Paradise Beach
2)our DD's Father and Mother IN Law enjoying the pool area
3) my DW and our Grandson chilling on Paradise Beach
My DW and our DD's Mother in Law went down for a beachside massage and both were very pleased. $35 plus tip for 30 minutes.
Several of us did some snorkleing off the beach. Saw several lobsters, a couple of eels, bonefish and a very nice Barracuda. From the beach head to your left over near the pier, some very nice rocky areas.
All of us ordered various things off the menu during the day. Typical fare, nacho's, fajita. Nothing spectacular, but all at a reasonable price and quite good.
We decided to leave around 3 to give us time to do some browsing/shopping and several in our group wanted to pop into 3 amigos for a quick yard or 2 :-P.
Same process with Taxi on the return trip.... we were back in the Port by 3:30.
A little shopping, buying a few local trinkets as we usually do while in Cozumel.
A side note about 3 Amigos. I typically dont like to say anything if i cant say something positive, but every trip to 3 amigos for me has just been ok. The drinks/food seemed to be way over priced for the watered down slurpees they end up serving. Its one of theoise places that is living off of its reputation rather than provided quality goods in my opinion.
Proof of the truth of Location..Location..Location.
Back on the boat by around 5, just enough time for a shower, glass of wine on the balcony and get ready for dinner in the MDR. Another great dinner and evening with everyone.
Tonight our waiter asked our girls to dance with him and they had a good time with it.
We asked our daughter and SIL if they minded if we took our grandson into the show to give them some time to themselves in the casino. They didnt take very long to say....Yes! that would be great! haha. We were more than happy to.
He loved it, the lights, the sounds, all the energy. It was the juggler/comedian show.
I know some might say they could never imagine taking a small baby on a cruise. Im quite sure it depends on the child and parents, but I can tell you we had such a good time with him. My daughter had already made the decision to keep him on his regular schedule as much as possible. It gave them opportunities to take a few naps they probably wouldn't have if they were at home. I actually found a very good place up on floor 11 just behind the glass elevators that we could both sit down on the floor and he could crawl around all he wanted. All carpeted without any doorways etc... Its an area that doesn't have a lot heavy traffic, so it was perfect for him to stretch his little legs and get some of his energy out. We spent some time almost every day there over the course of the cruise.
Another Great day.
Next up Belize....Tender day. my DW wife doesn't like tenders.... oh boiee.
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** DAY 2- Sunday 5/12 ** @ SEA DAY
Here is the Funtimes For this SeaDay.
http://s193.photobucket.com/user/whosyourdaddy_mmc/library/Funtimes%20-%20Sunday%20May%202013
Always look forward to the Days at Sea during the week. Probably because there is no agenda whatsoever, so it can truly be a relaxing vacation day. With this Western Itinerary there are only 2. Today and then the last day which is Friday.
I brought a stick on dry erase board that we put onto our cabin door that everyone could put info on or "check-in" as they wished. Ever get separated from others during your day on the ship and wonder just where the heck they went. I have.... this dry erase worked out perfectly. Here is a pic. http://s193.photobucket.com/user/whosyourdaddy_mmc/media/Carnival%20Dream%20May%202013/DryEraseBoard_zpsb2a4f43a.jpg.html
Our Cabin was the first cabin in our series of cabins so everyone would walk past it either coming or going..... great way for large groups to stay connected.
Woke up at around 8:30, later than normal but my DW and I's intention was to eat later and go down to the gym first. Its always extremely busy between 8 and 9 am , so would highly recommend for you to go either before then or after.
After a quick 30 minute workout we grabbed a couple plates of fresh fruit and headed up to the top deck where the majority of our young people in the group had already hit the gym, eaten breakfast and were getting their sun on by 9:30. Did I already mention that they had been out till 4 the previous night? This pattern of extremely small amounts of sleep would continue for the balance of the cruise. I guess the young people these days are really living out the motto Yolo. :-P ....
As everyone knows it is a most difficult challenge to find deck chairs at certain times of the day, especially if you want to be in high traffic areas of the Lido deck. We prefer to be around all of the activity's, but not right on top of them. We had no problem at all getting 8-10 chairs on the 12th deck right near the railing overlooking the main pool area. We love this spot because any planned activity that goes on takes 2 decks down right below us. I.E> hairy chest contest, Mixologist, Ice Carving etc etc. With those first 2 taking place today, always a fun time watching these activities. And if your not interested, you just stay seated in your lounge chair while still be a part of the group.
We tend to spend a lot of our SeaDay's sitting outside on the deck getting sun. With a few trips to the Mini Golf, Basketball court sprinkled in.
Its surprising with our group all being from Florida, being able to sit out by the pool or boat and get baked in the sun whenever we want, that we spend as much time as we do out in those lounge chairs, but we do.
One side story about the chairs, one brief moment around the middle of the day when several of the girls had gone in to grab some chips/salsa and drinks, an elderly lady walked by several times and i could tell she was having a difficult time finding a chair, her third time by, i guess we made eye contact and she said..."there just doesnt seem to be anywhere for an old lady to lay out and get a tan". I immediately said Maam why dont you put your stuff down right here and take one of our chairs. She said "are you sure?" I said yes of course! we can figure something out once my daughters get back, or if i HAVE to, I'll go down to the casino, i need a break from this hot sun...haha :-) ... we both chuckled and she sat down. When our daughters all came back one leaned into my ear and said Dad, "who is the older lady laying out in our lounge chairs?" I just looked at them and smiled and said I will tell you about it later tonight at dinner, she needed a chair and we gave her one. Here is a pic, it has become the most talked about during our cruise.
Elegant night, which translates into Lobster night. As I mentioned we all love getting dressed up for the MDR, but Elegant night is like Prom nights all over again for us adults. Tonight was extremely special because it was Mothers day. The girls had prepared cards and gifts before the cruise to be given to their Mother at dinner. I had given a boxed necklace to our head waiter to be served to my wife before her first appetizer. It was also our daughters very first Mothers day. What a great way to celebrate such a special occasion together as a family.
More Casino....More Dancing....More Dancing......More Dancing.
Next up our first Port...... Cozumel. and let me just say, what an amazing day it was.
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Just settling back into the realities of being away for 8 days..... you know, the box full of accumulated snailmail, the voice mails, emails, etc, etc.
but those can wait....while the memories of our wonderful week are still freshhhhh
let me attempt to put down some thoughts on our most recent Cruise aboard the Carnival Dream sailing the Western Caribbean itinerary 5/11/13 through 5/18/13.
Our group included my DW, Our three little girls, (ages 24-22-20 haha), our 2 SIL's, our Grandson (8 months), our youngest daughters Boyfriend and one of our SIL's set of Parents and his Sister. For a grand total of 11.. and 1/2.
Let me begin by saying, and as my title indicates, it doesn't matter whether we are sitting around the dining room table at home playing a board game, or sailing on a 7 day cruise through the Caribbean, if we are together as a Family....Good Times are ahead. I'm a big believer in the fact that Fun and Happiness is not 100% about location and activity, but largely made up of ATTITUDE. With that being said....Lets try to recap our crazy fun filled week!
I did try to keep most of the Carnival Fun Times, I will try to scan them and post them throughout the review...sadly i don't have the FunTimes for day 1.
** DAY 1- Saturday 5/11 **
We all live in Southwest Florida, so Port Canaveral is about a 3 hour car ride. My goal was to get to Port by 11:30, so I wasn't everyone's favorite person when I woke them up at 7am. I had pre-booked with Park and Cruise, which i had used before on our last cruise out of Canaveral and was very pleased. From driving into their Barn to us sitting on the bus was less than 15 minutes. $50 for the week.
[The first pic below is all of us standing inside the Park and Cruise Barn waiting to get on the bus to Cruise Terminal.] From there, prob about a 10 minute bus ride over to the cruise terminal.
This was the first time we had gotten the email from Carnival suggesting that we arrive 1:30 -3, so we weren't sure what to expect, but we got into the security line at 12pm and was on the Lido deck by 12:45. Pretty easy. Carnival has gotten the boarding process down to a science. Most of us had passports, but a few with BC, all without any issues or delays. Our DD's inlaws are Platinum, so they were able to go thru the priority line, we actually got through at the same time and we were all able to get an Embarkation Photo together.
One Side Note about Security Checkin Line- I had read on these boards that Carnival had been cracking down on smuggling. I can tell you this was the first time in 7 cruises I have ever had them shake water bottles, open up 12 pack soda containers that were in our carry on's. Not that this is any indication they are tightening up and could be random, just an observation.
Its always a goal of our family to walk across the glass enclosed gangway together as a group, anticipating together about stepping onto the ship for the first time for the week....
Everyone headed up to the Lido deck to grab a quick bite to eat. We found an out of the way spot up on the second floor of the Pasta bar to meet and eat our Lunch. This spot/table would end up being the same location for the whole week for our family to meet up for breakfasts and lunches. Everyone knows how hard it is if your traveling with a group to 1) find a table together 2) even locate all the people in your party sprinkled throughout the Lido area 3) manage all the staggered times and different types of foods everyone wants that day. We have staked out large out of the way areas in the past and it always works best for us. Most of the week we were the only ones up on this second floor area of Pasta Bar.
After lunch it was almost 1:30 and our rooms were ready and just shortly after all of our luggage had arrived. I had given serious consideration to going with the FTTF but im actually pleased that we didnt. Within an 1 1/2 hours of walking into the cruise terminal we were in our room with our luggage. That includes the 1/2 hour or so of us hanging out eating lunch. As I mentioned we were traveling with an 8 month old, so we were a little nervous about not getting some of his things until later in the evening, but all arrived with no issues. Pretty sweet.
We had a total of 4 cabins - 3 balcony and 1 interior all on the Lido Deck (10th ) If you have any questions about the cabin please ask, and i will attempt to answer. They are very nice, I wont say roomy :-) , but i will say very adequate for a week at sea.
if you have cruised before...you know the drill. Everyone must do the Muster. It has become a running joke with our family about what sort of thing one could do to avoid going down to the Muster drill (hiding under the bed, hanging out on the balcony, etc..) but everyone always seems to show up as requested. Its fairly painless really, and its probably just some sort of rebellion in everyone that causes this. haha.
One new thing for our family was the small arm band placed on our grandson during this Muster Drill, actually they placed it on his ankle, with his Muster Station location number stamped on it. I think I heard that all children under a certain age must have one of these on for the entirety of the cruise. Although we never used any of the Day Care / Children's Program etc I think that is Really Great safety feature.
After the Muster, we all went up on top deck for some sail-away pics and then back to our various cabins to unpack, relax, and get ready for some dinner!
One of our favorite times during a Cruise Vacation is our group dinners in the MDR. We tend to look at it with the anticipation of all being together for at least an 1 1/2 hours of conversation, eating, and laughter. I always find it odd the amount of discussion that takes place on these boards as to what type of clothing 'can or cannot' be tolerated in the MDR. My first thought would be...Why do you want to see how close to the acceptance level line you can get and hang out there? I know everyone has different likes/dislikes, for goodness sakes that's what makes life so colorful, but going into the MDR is like going into a Up Scale Restaurant. Just look around as you walk in. It has its intended purpose just like the Casino, the Red Frog Bar or the Lunch Buffet. I have never been offended or put off by someones attire in the MDR, but for our family it is an enjoyable time to get a little more dressed up than normal and just have fun with it. I think our three daughters had 7 different pairs of shoes each for our dinners in the MDR. That's 21.....21 pairs of shoes just for our evening dinners haha. I wont say this outloud but my wife had that many as well. :-) so i guess that makes 28 between the 4 of them. [ the next few photos are from our first night in the MDR ]
We ate at the early seating time of 6, with a fantastic table next to the window in the upper floor of the Scarlet Dining Room. It was wonderful walking in for the first time for dinner greeting our wait staff and seeing that they had placed a little high chair for our Grandson at the end of the table. Its the little things that people do that tell you they are thinking about you and your vacation. If you don't take a second and look around for them, you can easily miss out on the joy of seeing them.
The food through out the Cruise was very good. We each tend to have our 'favorite' item that we look forward to all week and I will try and talk about each of these as they show up on the menu.
2 things about the "changes" Carnival has made with regards to Food. Sushi Bar- Gone. The only Sushi you will find onboard is one appetizer served during the week. For me personally I was disappointed with this change. I always loved going by the sushi bar on the way into the MDR and getting my appetite going with a few pieces of sushi. Bummer for me for sure.
Cappuccino's - Still available at dinner...but for a price. $3 I think. Totally ok with this change, and more than willing to pay for a few each night during the cruise. But after 2 attempts on 2 separate evenings to order one after dinner with no success I gave up. I'm not sure whether its too busy of a time after dinner for them to go get them with preparing/cleaning tables for the next seating or what, but on both occasions after waiting 15 mins or so, I just settled for coffee.
After Dinner, like is our custom during the week,we spent some time in the Casino. We seemed to gravitate to the roulette wheel because the table can all kinda root for the same outcome to some degree. Some very friendly and nice dealers on this cruise. By the second day or so, one of the Pit Bosses, Loretto when we would see him he would always give us the most enthusiastic Hello with a nice big smile! On several occasions through-out the week he would buy our family a round of drinks....
Several of us made it to the Opening Show that night in the Encore Lounge. Your usual show to kick of the cruise, introduce the CD, Officers, and Captain...with lights, singing, and dancing etc....
A little later we all made it to what my age group would call the Disco, my kids call it the 'Club' , for a little dancing. Fairly busy around 11:30 or so with a good mix of age groups. After being up and going since almost 7am on this first day....My DW and I called it a night around 1am. While our daughters, their husbands and boyfriend stayed dancing the night away till around 4 am then popped in for some pizza just to finish off their 1st day. Ahhhhhhhh the joys of being in your early 20's :-P
That will have to do it for this Post.
I do have the FunTimes for the rest of the week and will try to upload
Dream Review -May 2013 ---->> Family = Fun
in Carnival Cruise Lines
Posted
hahaha.... i think he may have looked at the date wrong ..... :-P
its just now coming up on 2 years, and its time for another cruise!